Issa: Lerner lost her right - Legal expert puts this in perspective - Tomorrow: Obama speaks on counterterrorism - Dear Werfel: Welcome to the jungle - On the move: Immigration legislation

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WELCOME TO THE PRO REPORT,where we’re reading AP’s round-up of others who took the Fifth to keep from incriminating themselves in congressional hearings: St. Louis Cardinal Mark McGwire, the home-run record-breaker who wouldn’t tell lawmakers if he used steroids; Jack Abramoff, who wouldn’t talk about his bribes; and Ronald Reagan aides Oliver North and John Poindexter who kept quiet on Iran Contra (Read it: http://apne.ws/ZdPgkj). Email the juice this way: rbade@politico.com. Or tweet me @RachaelMBade and follow @POLITICOPro.

TODAY’S TOP STORY:

1.) ISSA: LERNER LOST HER RIGHT. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) told your Pro Reporter this afternoon that he plans to drag scandal-torn IRS official Lois Lerner back to his committee because she waived her Fifth Amendment rights. When? Well, we don’t exactly know yet. But he left the hearing open, (“in recess”) rather than adjourning so he can bring her back. Issa said the IRS head of the tax-exempt division gave up her constitutional protection to not answer questions when she denied any wrongdoing and professed pride in her government service. “When I asked her questions from the very beginning, I did so so she could assert her rights prior to any statement,” Issa told POLITICO. “She chose not to do so — so she waived.” Read the big news: http://politico.pro/Ze4fuo

— But not everyone agrees. The disagreement started in committee,as our Lauren French and Kelsey Snell report: “Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) tried to keep Lerner at the witness table by arguing that she waived her Fifth Amendment protection by giving an opening statement. Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the oversight committee, said she was still allowed to invoke the Fifth Amendment because she wasn’t speaking in a courtroom. Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Republican who chairs the committee, tried to coax Lerner into staying by offering to narrow the scope of questions. When she refused, Issa told Lerner she could leave but is subject to being recalled as the hearing plays out.” http://politico.pro/13L0IDz

— Here is what Lerner said: “I have not done anything wrong. … I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations, and I have not provided false information to this or any other committee.” She also said she’s “very proud of the work that I have done for the government.”

SPECIAL FOR PRO REPORT: LEGAL EXPERT PUTS THIS IN PERSPECTIVE. Here’s what Stan Brand, the House’s former general counsel and Beltway-based lawyer, tells Pro Report. Basically, he doesn’t expect Lerner to return to the panel any time soon.: “I don't think a brief introductory preface to her formal invocation of the privilege is a waiver,” he emails in. “The more serious question is whether any of her earlier congressional appearances before other committees constituted a waiver. That in turn may depend on whether any of those appearances were ‘compelled’ that is, pursuant to subpoena.

“As a practical matter the committee's only option is to go forward with a congressional enforcement action (via contempt) and contest in that case whether she waived her rights and must answer. That procedure would be complicated by the fact that there is now a pending criminal investigation which [the Department of Justice] will not want to compromise by contesting her invocation. Bottom line: I think we will hear no more from Ms. Lerner unless somebody immunizes her.”

— And will she get that immunization? Gowdy tells Pro Report: No — not if he has anything to say about it. “I would not want to give … immunity,” he said, noting that he would encourage his colleagues to reject that option. “If you give somebody immunity, that’s immunity from prosecution, so you’ve got to be very careful.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Issa, when trying to calm Gowdy during the Lerner stir-up, urging panel bipartisanship: “Let’s all be Republicrats and Democrans today.”

HOT TAMALE TOMORROW: OBAMA SPEAKS ON COUNTERTERRORISM: President Barack Obama at 1:30 p.m. talks Al Qaeda, drones and Guantanamo Bay at Fort McNair’s National Defense University. This comes not only amid the 100-plus-day hunger strike at the remote prison but also as Charlie Savage at the New York Times is reporting that the U.S. killed four American in drone strikes. A must read: http://nyti.ms/14ShlMv

DEAR WERFEL: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE.It gets worse here every day… Today is Daniel Werfel’s first day as acting IRS commissioner. Lawmakers are counting on him to pull the crippled agency up by its bootstraps, give it a good dustin’ off and set it back on track while restoring its image in the eyes of the American public. No pressure. Oh, and he’ll also have to conduct a review of the conservative-group targeting within 30 days. In one of his very first meetings, he sat with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to talk about how he might do this, our MJ Lee reports.

ON THE MOVE: IMMIGRATION LEGISLATION. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday afternoon he’ll bring the bipartisan immigration legislation to the floor for votes in June. Bloomberg’s Heidi Przybyla and Kathleen Hunter have the story: http://bloom.bg/10L2n6E.

ALSO BREAKING ON PRO TODAY –

LAUTENBERG, VITTER PUSH CHEMICAL SAFETY BILL. Sens. Frank Lautenberg and David Vitter unveiled legislation Wednesday to give EPA new authority to take action on dangerous chemicals and give them a closer look before they’re released on the market. It’s called the Chemical Safety Improvement Act of 2013, and Pro’s Erica Martinson has the deets: “That would expand the current law, which only allows EPA to require safety testing after there is evidence that a chemical is dangerous. ‘As a result, EPA has only been able to require testing for roughly 200 of the more than 84,000 chemicals currently registered in the United States, and has been able to ban only five dangerous substances since TSCA was first enacted in 1976,’ the senators said in a statement.” Learn more: http://politico.pro/10Mo3iJ

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POMPEO HEARTS AVIATION. Burgess Everett for Pro writes about efforts by the representative from the so-called Air Capital of the World (aka Wichita) to revive aviation — one area of manufacturing that’s on the decline. “[Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo] said an outdated regulation structure and consistent targeting in tax proposals from President Barack Obama have led to tough times in his hometown, which has lost thousands of jobs. … The congressman has worked with the FAA to write legislation to speed the certification process for new general aviation aircraft, which encompasses any planes not used for commercial air travel. … Pompeo expects the House Transportation Committee to approve his bill this summer.” http://politico.pro/1a7PIju

SUPPLY ROUTES CHOKED DEFENSE BUDGET. Blame the bill on Pakistan. “A months-long delay in the reopening of key Pakistani supply routes after last year’s diplomatic standoff was one big contributor to the $9.6 billion reprogramming request the Pentagon has sent to Congress,” reports Leigh Munsil for team Pro Defense, writing about the logjam of the land that’s vital to moving supplies and equipment in and out of Afghanistan. “Pakistan closed them after a November 2011 U.S. airstrike mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani border troops. When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton eventually apologized to Pakistan last July, Pakistan said it would reopen the supply routes — but cargo didn’t actually begin flowing again until months later. In the meantime, the U.S. had to move material by air or via a long northern route that, along with increases in the cost of fuel, meant the Pentagon was paying much more than it expected to sustain the war effort in Afghanistan.” http://politico.pro/14yUo1c

LABOR IRKED AT SENATE H-1B COMPROMISE. Pro’s Jessica Meyers says it best: “Big Tech exhaled Tuesday when lawmakers passed an amendment in the Senate immigration bill modifying temporary worker visa provisions. Labor choked.” Meyers says the compromise between Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and immigration co-sponsor Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), which eases requirements for recruiting and hiring H-1B employees, has labor pulling its hair out because they say the plan will squash U.S. worker rights. Examples: “AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called the changes ‘unambiguous attacks on American workers.’ IEEE-USA President Marc Apter asked Congress to ‘look out for its citizens rather than the profit-driven interests of employers.’ And Senate Judiciary member Al Franken (D-Minn.) promised to keep tabs as the bill hits the Senate floor.” Read:http://politico.pro/12t2Gpi

IRS WATCHDOG GETS REAMED. IRS inspector general J. Russell George took some heat at the oversight hearing for the first time. Why? Because he failed to notify Congress of the audit sooner. “You have a responsibility to keep us continually, and according to statute, equally informed,” Issa said. “In this case, it appears you did not.” Issa said the severity of the matter should have compelled George to tell Congress what he knew under the so-called seven-day rule — a part of the law that directs the inspectors general to tell Congress of serious issues. But George also raised concerns that incremental information provided to lawmakers would ultimately leak to the public — and could result in false or half-baked information slandering people who could be innocent. http://politico.pro/16OOwVO

ON TAP THURSDAY: Thursday and Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry is in Jerusalem and Ramallah to meet with Israeli leaders and Palestinians. Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki at 6 p.m. will participate in the Pentagon Federal Credit Union Foundation’s "Night of Heroes Gala," which honors military members. Senate Commerce Committee at 11 a.m. will consider Penny Pritzker to be Commerce secretary. And earlier, at 9 a.m., the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will consider the renomination of Allison Macfarlane to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Meanwhile, the House Armed Services Committee will continue working on the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2014 throughout the day.

SNAP. Pro Report snapped this picture with her phone the minute Lerner walked into the room. The cameras swarmed her like bees to honey: http://politico.pro/13JnGY2

POLICY AROUND THE WEB:

— What happened in that interview? The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Perez, Alan Cullison and Paul Sonne have the latest on the friend of the Boston bombers who was killed by investigators during his interview: “Three U.S. law-enforcement officials said preliminary accounts of the confrontation state that Mr. Todashev lunged at the agent with a knife. The agent was taken to the hospital with unspecified but non-life-threatening injuries, the FBI said.” http://on.wsj.com/183tvGD

— Approved: Lawmakers today advanced a bill to strip high-ranking officers of their power to change and dismiss sexual assault and rape cases. AP has the report: http://apne.ws/16P07DP

— Rejected: Also the AP, on legislation set to hit the House floor tomorrow: “President Barack Obama on Wednesday threatened to veto legislation by House Republicans that would avert a doubling of student loan interest rates on July 1 but allow them to vary with the markets going forward.” http://apne.ws/10QGkQ5

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